I've been using MX 17.1 as LiveUSB frugal static (bootfs & homefs) without shutdown (just suspend) for a little over one week since my last remaster. Yesterday I tried to read a microSD card placed in a USB card reader. The reader froze the system. After trying to close running apps with my custom Xfce panel xkill launcher (that didn't respond) I shut the computer down with REISUB.

Now when I start up the computer I get the MX boot screen with the following choices:
1. Snapshot MX-17.1 x64 Horizon (01 June 2018)
2. Boot from Hard Disk
3. Memory test

Choice 1 boots the snapshot, but that doesn't have my changes for the past week (no surprise).
Choice 2 open the Grub menu where there are three "systems" to choose. Another Linux distro installed on sdb, Windows 7 on sda, and the MX frugal install on a separate partition on sdb. When Choice 2 is selected followed by selecting the frugal install then one of two things happen: (a) the computer freezes on the grub background photo, or (b) the MX boot screen comes up again (as above), that is, it seems like the frugal system refuses to boot and the computer goes back to the opening MX boot screen. Kind of an endless loop.

Any suggestions for fixing this issue, or for recovering the few LO documents I created in the past week?

Last edited by Antediluvian on Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Any suggestions for fixing this issue, or for recovering the few LO documents I created in the past week?

Within the "1. Snapshot MX-17.1 x64 Horizon (01 June 2018)"
menu option press "E" for edit.
Navigate to the line startin with linux using the arrow keys "<- "->" and up and down.
you see the option perists_static.

1st trial: Now. I assume you rootfs is broken and hopefully your homefs is not broken.
So let's try to start without rootfs but with homefs.
-> change persist_static to persist_home
With this you will try to boot the original MX-Linux without system-updates, but hopefully
with access to the home-folder with you documents.
If that is booting ok : save away your documents.

#----
EDIT: If homefs is ok, you just need to remove "rootfs" and restart
normal with perist_static ( which is here = frugal-satic).
A new rootfs will be created and the exist homefs will be used.
#------

2n trial if homefs is also broken.
-> remove persist_static
With this you will boot the original MX-Linux without system-updates
and with a default home. ( No documents)

Now open MX Tools -> ReamsterCC -> Peristence -> action "Discovery Menu"
-> Discover homefs
This will "try" to open homefs as "root"-user, if it is not too much broken ;=)
If this open Thunar as root with "homefs" find and copy your LO docs onto e.g the dekstop.

After having recovered you'r docs. You might think about creating new rootfs and new homefs.
Hope you can make sense out of the above?

Thank you for the detailed directions, fehlix. While starting your process I noticed a line that flashed by that said something like "can't find partition labeled antiX-Frugal". So I booted from the other Linux distro, ran Gparted and entered the label "antiX-Frugal" for the HDD partition where rootfs and homefs should be. Then I booted the LiveUSB, selected the Snapshot from 01 June 2018, pressed F5 (I'm running off BIOS instead of UEFI) and selected frugal_static. Happily MX booted up with my current (yesterday's) rootfs & homefs. So, problem solved! Thanks!

Fehlix, you ended your post with "You might review your suspend pattern." What do you mean by that? Is it better to shut down a LiveUSB (with persistence) between sessions than it is to suspend?

Fehlix, you ended your post with "You might review your suspend pattern." What do you mean by that? Is it better to shut down a LiveUSB (with persistence) between sessions than it is to suspend?

Well, when you shutdown you might see a rsync activity.
This rsync is the persistence sync,which will write finally all
changes into the "rootfs"-file.
As long as you have not synced yet, like with having not rebooted with suspend,
you never know how much of your current system changes - e.g. through
apt's upgrades - are already written onto rootfs.
Have a look into the persist-sync options with rematerCC
which are automativ, semi-automatic or manual.
You might get an idea, why I do feel it's not a so good idea
with frugal/or live-boot using to intensive suspend mode.

Fehlix, you ended your post with "You might review your suspend pattern." What do you mean by that? Is it better to shut down a LiveUSB (with persistence) between sessions than it is to suspend?

Well, when you shutdown you might see a rsync activity.
This rsync is the persistence sync,which will write finally all
changes into the "rootfs"-file.
As long as you have not synced yet, like with having not rebooted with suspend,
you never know how much of your current system changes - e.g. through
apt's upgrades - are already written onto rootfs.
Have a look into the persist-sync options with rematerCC
which are automativ, semi-automatic or manual.
You might get an idea, why I do feel it's not a so good idea
with frugal/or live-boot using to intensive suspend mode.

Hello fehlix,
FI, I have tried the frugal install (a MX17 x32 under a AMD64 PC) ... and it is not very easy to play with. First had to use the dpkg-reconfigure locales to set again the French language ... second for the keyboard too ... then I had a message "the persistence files are not found or so." ... so maybe I can use the kernel boot parameter option ? : frugal=root,home! (saw here: https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/do ... al_install ) ... So I have to make some tests again, but frugal is not so easy to use for me ;-)

First had to use the dpkg-reconfigure locales to set again the French language ... second for the keyboard too ... then I had a message "the persistence files are not found or so." ... so maybe I can use the kernel boot parameter option ? : frugal=root,home! (saw here: https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/do ... al_install ) ... So I have to make some tests again, but frugal is not so easy to use for me ;-)

You do not have to mess around with dpkg-reconfigure locales
if you have already setup frugal correctly by booting the first time with the correct local ( in classical
boot menuy by select with F2 the language French ).
Now if you later re-boot into frugal:
With an ISO or LiveUSB, you shall also select the language using F2 in classiacle boot menu.
or
if you boot the GRUB-menu,
you add this boot-paramerters within the linux-boot line for examples:

The MX-boot parameters are based on antiX-boot paramters,
which are described here https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/do ... al_install
( Thats the link you posted above.)
Not all antiX-boot option are availebl within MX Linux.
But both antiX and MX Linux using the same functionality with live and frugal boots.
Please do ask any specific detailed question ( before you get lost ...)

... Thank you fehlix for your help (as usual)
Into my custom GRUB-menu, I added your boot parameters and that did the trick. (except for the root persist-static item, I still have an issue/warning with a difference between rootfs and linuxfs )

... Thank you fehlix for your help (as usual)
Into my custom GRUB-menu, I added your boot parameters and that did the trick. (except for the root persist-static item, I still have an issue/warning with a difference between rootfs and linuxfs )

Please show which boot-parameter you entered and what the warning looked like.

Some notes to make you happy:
persist_static :
This is you normal (persistent) use with useing rootfs and homefs , writeable with system-updates /data.

persist_root :
this uses only rootfs (e.g. with all system updates) and a homefs is not used,
for the (non-persitent) home it will use either vanilla user/skeleton home or an existing
home from within linuxfs ( which you would have after a personal remaster)

persist_home: this uses no rootfs (no system updates since last remaster)
but it uses your (write-able and persitent) homefs . with all personal changes an data.

... Some notes to make you happy:
persist_static :
This is you normal (persistent) use with useing rootfs and homefs , writeable with system-updates /data.

persist_root :
this uses only rootfs (e.g. with all system updates) and a homefs is not used,
for the (non-persitent) home it will use either vanilla user/skeleton home or an existing
home from within linuxfs ( which you would have after a personal remaster)

persist_home: this uses no rootfs (no system updates since last remaster)
but it uses your (write-able and persitent) homefs . with all personal changes an data.

I know it can become confusing, as it so flexible

Hello Fehlix,
... I better see now, and understand the frugal flexibility ;-) ... So I have changed the frugal behavior to meet my needs into the grub boot menu like this now: